PAUL’S LABOURS AT CORINTH
Before I begin to speak of this chapter, I will remark that one of the great wonders of church history is that there was ever an assembly in Corinth. When the Lord Jesus spoke to Paul in relation to this place, He said, “speak and be not silent … because I have much people in this city” (Acts 18:9,10), an astonishing thing because, for a long time, Corinth had been an embodiment of wickedness. We know that Paul had been to Athens, and had given a powerful address there, but I do not think that there is any record of an assembly ever being founded there. We read of Damaris, and of one of the men who had been an Areopagite, and a few others, but we are not told that there was ever an assembly in Athens. However, when Paul went to Corinth, it was different. Persons from various levels of society – including some rich people – believed, were converted and an assembly was formed there. It was glorious and dignified, but over time, things declined in Corinth to a very low level. Brethren were not only quarrelling, but were taking each other to the civil court. Imagine that! There was also a certain element of wickedness going on in their midst, which they were not really paying much attention to – they should have mourned – and along with that, people were clustering together because of their shared viewpoints. These and many other features of the world were found among them.
It has been said however that when Paul wrote the first epistle to them, the foundation still stood1. That gave the apostle great confidence. There is a scripture in the Old Testament that says that “If the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?”, Ps.11:3. If the foundation of Christianity is taken away, what can you do, but at Corinth the foundation had not been removed. We have known an attack on the foundation of Christianity, and it was swiftly met, thank God. What we have known in a more prolonged sense has been an attack on the foundations of the recovery of the truth. That had not risen up and then been met in a month; it has been a prolonged matter, but thank God, the foundation remains.
As to his first epistle to Corinth, and the conditions that existed then, the first evil that Paul addressed was not the misconduct of the wicked man, but it was the sects and divisions among them. That was the very first thing he met in chapter 1 of 1 Corinthians. Paul reminded them as to what they were – the assembly of God in Corinth – and that “God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I exhort you, brethren …” (vv.9,10). What was Paul addressing, what was uppermost in his mind? It was the divisions among the saints, the party spirit among them.
I would like to share something which I read, in the context of these divisions and parties that existed in Corinth. ‘The flesh cannot rise up to heaven’ – that is true, it cannot apprehend heavenly things – ‘nor descend in love to every need’2. I would greatly desire to be able to lift up my eyes and apprehend Christ where He is, glorified at the Father’s right hand, and glorified among His saints. I would greatly desire that. Mr Taylor said that he would like to go up to heaven to see Christ crowned there, crowned by the Father, but he also said that he would like to see Him crowned by His people down here3. The address is easy to read – my mother encouraged me to read Volume 1, and I am glad she did. But I would also like to be able to descend in love to every need.
The writer goes on; ‘The flesh cannot rise up to heaven, nor descend in love to every need. It walks in the separative comparison of self-importance’. That is what they were doing in Corinth – “I am of Paul … I of Cephas”, 1 Cor.1:12. In verse 6 of chapter 4, Paul made clear his unwillingness to name anyone at Corinth as a party leader. That was considerate of the apostle, but they were walking in the ‘separative comparison of self-importance’, and unity had gone. They were down at the level of the world, but thank God, the foundation was still there.
So Paul wrote to them and explained many things; he spoke strongly to them, he used exceptional language which would not be appropriate among us today (1 Cor.5:3-5). Then he wrote a second epistle. We all remember that in John’s gospel chapter 13, before the Supper, the Lord Jesus took the washhand basin, and He washed the feet of His disciples. He also took a towel, He wiped their feet and He left them comfortable. Some have likened the first epistle to the Corinthians to the washhand basin, and the second epistle to the towel. I would respect that analogy. In the first epistle, Paul dealt with the matter of the parties, and he went on and dealt with many other things. He set out the truth of the Supper, taking it out of the household setting and the love feast setting which had become corrupted. He did not call for that to be reformed, but placed the Supper in the assembly. Paul went on to write of fellowship and the Lord’s supper, and so the epistle goes on.
When Paul wrote the second epistle, things had changed in Corinth. His word had been very effective. Early in the epistle, he wrote about the new covenant; he said that it is “the ministry of the Spirit”, 2 Cor.3:8. He had written about the ministry of Moses, that it was glorious in its surroundings; it was introduced in glory, but it was never said to be glorious in itself. As to the ministry of the Spirit, Paul wrote that it subsists in glory. Beloved, it subsists in glory until today. It is part of the situation in which we are today, that the ministry of the Spirit subsists in glory. Paul went on to write about “looking on the glory of the Lord” (v.18). Do we long for change with us, do we long for our state to be improved? The Lord Jesus has no veil on His face. If there is a veil on mine, I am sure that He would have me to lay it aside. The Holy Spirit would serve each one of us, that if there is a veil, it might be laid aside; and if we look on His glory, we will be transformed.
Then Paul wrote about reconciliation to God, and the price which was paid for that, in that “Him who knew not sin he has made sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness in him”, 2 Cor.5:21. He also wrote about sanctification; “Be not diversely yoked with unbelievers”, 2 Cor.6:14. I remember meeting a brother who I had never met before; he had not long been walking in the same path and I asked him, ‘What led you to come out of the church?’. Without hesitation, he said ‘2 Corinthians 6 – be not diversely yoked with unbelievers’. Similarly, if I am in a particular trade, and there is an advantage to be gained from being in a trade association, which is greater – the benefits of that association, or knowing God as my Father? Such is the Father’s care that men and women are provided for as men and women; “I will be to you for a Father, and ye shall be to me for sons and daughters” (v.18). The Father understands the specific needs of a man, and He understands the specific needs of a woman. There could be nothing to compare with that, could there?
On the apostle goes, and I wanted to speak of this last chapter but before I do, I want to emphasise that this is the apostle speaking with the authority of his apostleship. I would contrast it with the epistle to the Philippians, where Paul largely hides his apostleship, and speaks as a brother and as a believer. But in this epistle, and certainly in this chapter, he speaks as an apostle. I would like to touch on a few points as we go through, principles which apply to us at all times. I wish to speak simply.
The first principle Paul insists on is witness – that every matter is to be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses. We are not ever above the need for that. I would apply it very simply – it means just what it says.
Then the second principle which I think the apostle establishes is the principle of warning. It is observable that God in His ways uses warning in His dealings with man. God warned man as to the partaking of the fruit of the tree of good and evil. When the flood came, God had certainly warned men. That massive floating structure, that ark, was not built secretly; it must have been the most public thing of the day. God was giving warning. When Pharaoh was about to be overthrown and his kingdom destroyed, God warned him through Moses and the repeated plagues4. When the Israelites were to approach a city, they were to give notice and offer peace (Deut.20:10). They were not to come upon it suddenly to destroy it; they were to offer peace, offer terms. God was providing warning. Through the prophets of the captivity, God was providing warning to Israel. I think that all through, warning is a principle with God. So it was with the apostle; he said, “if I come again I will not spare”. And so it will be when the Lord Jesus appears. His absence is a time of provisional reconciliation, and in relation to the church, His absence is giving time for repentance. To Thyatira he said of Jezebel; “I gave her time that she should repent” (Rev.2:21). To five of these assemblies, there is a warning.
Then we have this remarkable statement as to the One who has been crucified in weakness. That was not Paul. Paul was among them as powerful, not in his own strength, but in the power of the Spirit of God, but he speaks to them about One who had been crucified in weakness. I would submit that that is another principle, maybe the third one that we can identify in this chapter, that in God’s ways, He brings us to feel our weakness. I think that it is a principle with God, that He leads us that way.
Despite all the labours of the apostle, despite all his patience that he had shown when this assembly had first been established and then in his labours in relation to recovering the Corinthians, it would seem that there were people who were detracting from him. They were trying to put him down, to minimise his ministry, saying that he was weak, and other things. Paul was saying, What has been of benefit in this ministry? He puts it back on them; he says, You examine your own selves – do you not recognise that Jesus Christ is in you? Persons who once were far from God, but now continuing through all this time of difficulty – Paul was saying to them that if they looked carefully, they would find that Jesus Christ was in them. God was working there, and that remained. Then Paul went on to write, “Now I hope that you will know that we” – that is Paul and Timothy – “are not reprobates”. We know from one of the footnotes in the epistle to the Romans that a reprobate is someone who has no moral discernment5. Paul was saying, ‘I hope that you know that we are not like that’. Neither Paul or Timothy were anything like that at all; they were both men of acute moral discernment. Timothy may not have spoken as Paul did – we do not have anything recorded of what he ever said – but I suggest to the brethren that Timothy was a man of acute moral discernment, otherwise he would never have cared how the saints got on (Phil.2:20).
Paul says in verse 7, “But we pray to God that ye may do nothing evil”. The great burden at the present time, which we would all carry, is that the Lord’s people might do nothing evil. Then “not that we may appear approved, but that ye may do what is right”. My interest in this chapter came from ministry which someone pointed out to me more than twenty years ago, and which had been given in an area in which there had been a lot of trouble. Mr Taylor went there, and he read this passage about doing what is right, and said ‘There is not a Christian on earth who is not obligated to do that6. I commend that to us. That would be our prayer for all our brethren everywhere, that they might do what is right. Paul says here, “but that ye may do what is right, and we be as reprobates”. I think that this is another principle that we are touching on here, and that is the preparedness to be considered of no moral worth. That is what this scripture says, “that ye may do what is right, and we be as reprobates”; that is, that we be regarded as though we have no discernment in matters of good and evil. Paul was saying to the Corinthians, if that is what you think about us, then so be it, but you do what is right.
Then he says, “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth”. The maintenance of the truth among us would be a very great desire on the part of everyone here. But first, let me remind us all of what Mr Raven said, that the truth is not maintained merely by clinging tenaciously to its terms, but by our being the exponents of it7. Second, I would remind us all that, if through grace, I had clung to the truth all my life and sought to promote it among my brethren – even if that had been so, all I can say is that I have been an unprofitable bondman, and that I have only done my duty, nothing more. I cannot claim that, but if I had found grace to do it, that is what I would have been, an unprofitable bondman. The truth is far greater than my apprehension of it, and greater than any particular issue that the Lord may be drawing attention to at any time. We are right to pay heed to whatever specific matter that the Lord may be stressing among us; it is right to be aware of that and to heed it, but the truth is far, far greater. The truth is really the declaration of God, all that God has been made known to be by His “only-begotten Son”, both in His pathway here, as well as in the glorious light from where He is now. The apostle says, “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth”. The truth does not depend on me, and how I thank God for that.
“For we rejoice when we may be weak and ye may be powerful”. That is something of the guilelessness about which we were enquiring in the reading. In man’s world, if someone wants to make a point, or to win an argument, then if they are clever, they will marshall facts to their advantage to defeat the opposition. But Paul was saying, You have all the advantage: whatever advantages there are, you take them. You be powerful, we will be weak. Then he says, “But this also we pray for, your perfecting”. That may be taken to refer to what is stressed in the epistle in relation to unity, and it would be our great desire, our prayer for the Lord’s people, that they might be perfected and that there might be oneness and unity among them, and also that there might be full growth. That is what we pray for, and that is our great desire, beloved, that the Lord’s people might prosper in their souls, and that the greatness of the truth might be laid hold of despite our smallness in relation to it.
I trust that the Lord may bless these thoughts to us, for His name’s sake.
Address at Grimsby
10 February 2018
G.J. Richards